title: The gray area: exploring attitudes toward infidelity and the development of the Perceptions of Dating Infidelity Scale.
abstract: Prior research has distinguished between emotional versus sexual infidelity. Two studies examined the development of the Perceptions of Dating Infidelity Scale (PDIS) to assess attitudes toward specific behaviors that constitute these types of infidelity in romantic relationships. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated three factors to the scale: Ambiguous, Deceptive, and Explicit behaviors. In both studies, there were gender differences on ratings of the behaviors. The construct validity of the scale was assessed with measures of sociosexual orientation, guilt, and coping with unwanted sexual situations. It was found that the Ambiguous behaviors were positively correlated with avoidance of unwanted sexual situations, while the Deceptive and Explicit scales were positively correlated with guilt and avoidance and negatively associated with an unrestricted sociosexual orientation and acting on attractions toward friends.
authors.affiliation: The College of Staten Island, Department of Psychology, 2800 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10314, USA. wilsonk321@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Brent A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Mattingly
authors.forename: Eddie M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Weidler
authors.forename: Amanda W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Bequette
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D003380:Courtship; D008192:Deception; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009769:Object Attachment; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult